Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C07K—PEPTIDES
  • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
  • C07K14/435—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from animals; from humans
  • C07K14/575—Hormones
  • C07K14/62—Insulins
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
  • A61K38/00—Medicinal preparations containing peptides

Definitions

• Novel insulin derivatives and pharmaceutical preparations containing these derivatives are disclosed.
• the present invention relates to novel insulin derivatives and to insulin preparations showing protracted action and comprising at least one of the novel insulin derivatives and, if desired, a fast acting insulin.
• insu ⁇ lin e.g. porcine insulin, bovine insulin or human insulin.
• Soluble insulin preparations are usually fast acting, but in return the action ceases after few hours. Therefore, it is necessary to give frequent injections, normally several times a day.
• insulin preparations with protracted action have been formulated so that the ac ⁇ tion is maintained for several hours or even up to 24 hours or longer.
• some diabetic patients only have to receive a small number of injections, e.g. a single or two injections during 24 hours.
• Such a protracted action can be achieved by converting the insulin to a slightly soluble salt, such as zinc insulin or protamin insulin.
• the slightly soluble insulin salts are used in the form of suspensions from which the insulin is gradually released e.g. after subcutaneous injection.
• the preferred methods " for preparing the insulin derivatives disclosed in the specification of Danish patent application No. 3582/84 in an industrial scale involve the use of trypsin-like enzymes which implies that enzymatic ac ⁇ tivity may contaminate the final preparations, cf. examples of execution in the specification of Danish patent application No. 3757/84.
• the protracted action of the above-mentioned insulin derivatives wherein the C-terminus of the B-chain is extended with an organic group carrying at least one po ⁇ sitive charge results exclusively from the extension of the B-chain.
• the extended B-chain is sensitive to en ⁇ zymes which cleave the B-chain, especially at B29-lysine, and consequently, the protracted action may be reduced and even abolished.
• the invention relates to insulin derivatives wherein one or more of the four amino acid residues of po- sitions A4, A17, B13 and B21 comprise an uncharged side chain.
• the invention relates specifically to insulin derivatives wherein one or two of the four amino acid residues of po ⁇ sitions A4, A17, B13 and B21 comprise an uncharged side chain.
• the invention relates in particular to insulin derivatives in which one of the four amino acid residues of positions A4, Al7, B13 and B21 comprises an uncharged side chain.
• the invention relates particularly to insulin derivatives wherein the amino acid residue of position A4 comprises an uncharged side chain.
• the invention relates specifically to insulin derivatives in which the amino acid residue of position A17 comprises an uncharged side chain.
• the invention relates in particular to insulin derivatives wherein the amino acid residue of position A4 is a glut- amine residue.
• the invention relates specifically to insulin derivatives wherein the amino acid residue of position A17 is a glut- amine residue.
• the invention also relates to insulin preparations contain ⁇ ing at least one insulin derivative wherein one or more of the four amino acid residues of positions A4, A17, B13 and B21 comprise an uncharged side chain and, if desired, also containing a fast acting insulin.
• a particularly advantageous embodiment of the insulin pre ⁇ paration of the invention is an injection preparation exhi ⁇ biting protracted insulin action and comprising a suspen ⁇ sion of at least one insulin derivative of the invention in an isotonic aqueous medium having a neutral pH and option ⁇ ally containing a buffer and/or a preserving agent and, if desired, a fast acting insulin.
• the biological activity of insulin will usually decrease by an increasing degree of derivatization.
• the biologi ⁇ cal activity is influenced surprisingly little even at high degrees of derivatization of the free carboxylic acid groups but when all six free carboxylic acid groups are deriva- tized the biological activity is completely abolished, vide D. Levy: Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 310 (1973), pages 406-415.
• the insulin activity can be maintained, and at the same time a surprisingly protracted action can be achieved.
• This pro ⁇ tracting effect is dependent on the properties of the spe- cific derivative, e.g. the number of amino acid residues comprising an uncharged side chain and the chemical consti ⁇ tution of the uncharged side chain.
• the protracted action is relatively in ⁇ sensitive to tryptic activity irrespective of the origin of the tryptic activity.
• a frequently used therapy consists in two daily injections of a protracted insulin preparation, one in the morning and one in. the eve ⁇ ning just before bedtime, in order to create a basic insu ⁇ lin level. Additionally, three injections of a fast acting insulin preparation are given prior to the principal meals.
• the disadvantage of this therapy is that the late injection of the protracted preparation may result in a dangerously low blood glucose level in the course of the night. This situation may be avoided by injecting a mixed preparation of a protracted and a fast acting insulin before supper, whereby hypoglycemia will, if at all, occur during the eve ⁇ ning, where it can be averted by means of a light snack.
• this type of the therapy often results in hyper- glycemia during the morning, as the most used protracted
• Insulin preparations prepared accord- ing to the invention exhibit a protracted insulin action of the same or longer duration than that of the commonly used protracted insulin preparation "Insulatard" ( * R ⁇ ') .
• the invention relates in particular to the following spe ⁇ cific compounds:
• this insulin may e.g. be human or porcine insulin.
• the insulin derivatives of the invention can be prepared in a manner known per se for the conversion of a carboxylic acid group into an uncharged group, e.g. by esterification or amidation.
• an insulin derivative wherein one or more of the carboxylic acid groups of posi- tions A4, A17, B13 and B21 are methylated is e.g. prepared by reacting human insulin-B30-methyl ester in borontri- fluoride/methanol for a suitable time, followed by fractio- nation of the modified insulin derivatives on an anion ex ⁇ change column at a slightly basic pH value.
• the products are fractionated and isolated by preparative HPLC, where ⁇ after the B30 methyl ester group is removed by gentle hydro ⁇ lysis in an ice-cold solution of 0.1 N sodium hydroxide.
• the preparation of the insulin derivatives of the invention wherein one or more amino acid residues of positions A4, A17, B13 and B21 comprise an uncharged side chain can be carried out by use of biotechnological methods.
• some or all or the glutamic acids located at these positions may be replaced by naturally occuring amino acids carrying an uncharged side chain, such as glutamine.
• the preferred method to prepare these modified insulins is by biosynthesis, as by e.g. changing only a single base in the codon in the DNA strand coding for glutamic acid this codon can be made code for glutamine.
• the product is synthe- tized as a fusion protein with another protein separated by a cleaving site.
• a cleaving site This may be a protease cleaving site or a site which can be cleaved chemically (e.g. methionine) .
• the gene for proinsulin is e.g. cloned as a genefusion with another protein by means of recombinant DNA techniques.
• the chimeric protein is cleaved by using a suitable enzyme or CNBr, whereupon the denatured proin- sulin is isolated in a sulphitolyzed form.
• This product is renatured under reducing conditions using J-mercapto ethanol at a pH of 10.5, as described by Frank, followed by trypsin/CpB cleavage as described by Kemmler (1971) .
• the resulting insulin is isolated in a manner known per se.
• proinsulin can be prepared biosynthetically by using the method disclosed in EPO 116201.
• proteins are secreted into the culture medium by using the oL-factor system from Saccharamyces cerevisiae.
• pro ⁇ insulin can be isolated from the culture medium by using the system described in Danish patent application No. 3091/84.
• proinsulin can be converted into insu ⁇ lin by the known methods described above.
• the product is either proinsulin or A- or B-rchain separately. Furthermore, these products are either synthetized together with a sig ⁇ nal sequence, the purpose of which is to bring the product through to the cell surface where it is split, or as a fu- sion with a protein, the purpose of which is to stabilize the product.
• the above-mentioned modifications of insulin can be pre ⁇ pared by expressing the modified DNA sequence in a suitable expression system.
• the changes of the DNA sequence can be made by _in vitro mutagenesis of the insulin gene by a meth- od described by Thomas A. Kunkel, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. , USA, Vol _82_, pp. 448-492 (1985).
• the insulin gene is cloned into the single-stranded DNA bacteriophage M13.
• DNA from this phage is purified, and hereto a primer, typically a 15-25-mer, which contains the given mutation (one mismatch) as well as a homology on each side of this mutation is annealed.
• the primer is then ex ⁇ tended by use of a DNA polymerase in the total length of the phaussiome and thus provides the complete double- stranded molecule, wherein one strand contains the mutation, and the other contains the wild type gene.
• the phage progeny will partly be phages containing the wild type gene, partly phages containing the mutation.
• the primer will have a complete homo ⁇ logy to the mutated strand, but will be different from the wild type at a single nucleotide.
• double- stranded DNA can be isolated from the E. coli cells, wherein the phage is replicated, and the modified insulin gene can be isolated herefrom. This gene is thereafter reinserted into the original expression system.
• the injection preparations can comprise the insulin deri ⁇ vatives of the invention as amorphous and/or crystalline suspensions, either separately or in combination with other such insulin derivatives and/or naturally occurring insu ⁇ lins. It has been found that a majority of these deriva- tives can be crystallized with zinc, either at a pH value being higher than their isoelectric points, or at a pH value about the isoelectric pH value, when the crystalli ⁇ zation medium contains a phenol. It is also possible to crystallize the insulin derivatives of the invention in the presence of protamin or an excess of zinc, which causes a further protracted activity.
• Example 1 The invention is further illustrated by means of the fol ⁇ lowing examples.
• Example 1 The invention is further illustrated by means of the fol ⁇ lowing examples.
• 500 mg of human insulin-B30-methyl ester were suspended in 50 ml of dry methanol. 2.0 ml of 20 % w/v borontrifluoride/- methanol were added with stirring. After standing at ambi ⁇ ent temperature for 2 hours the suspension was poured into 400 ml of ether and -centrifuged at 2500 x g at 4 C. for 20 minutes. The precipitate was washed twice with ether, resuspended in 150 ml of ether, evaporated in vacuo and dis- solved in 50 ml of 20 mM TRIS/HCl, 60 % by volume ethanol, pH 8.25.
• the sample was then applied to a 1.6 x 21 cm Q-Se- pharose ⁇ -' CL-6B Fast Flow column equilibrated with the same buffer. After 1 hour of isocratic elution at a flow rate of 24 cm/hour the column was eluted with a sodium chloride gradient that increased form 0 to 0.1 M over the next 16 hours. The insulin dimethyl ester peak was divided into 3 main pools.
• the pool eluted first was further fractionated on a 4 x 250 mm LiChrosorb ⁇ RP18 column (Merck 50333) equili- brated with 0.125 M ammonium sulphate, pH value 4.0 and
• the human-B21-methyl ester was characterized by Plasma De- sorption Mass Spectrometry showing the correct molecular weight and by decomposition with S.Aureus protease, whereby the B21 ester position was confirmed.
• Human insulin-A17-methyl ester was isolated and identified as described in Example 1, however the second eluted insu ⁇ lin dimethyl ester pool isolated from the anion exchange chromatographical step was used for further fractionation. Hereby 6.5 mg of human insulin-Al7-methyl ester were ob ⁇ tained.
• Formulation and biological effect of a preparation contain- ing human insulin-B21-dimethyl ester
• a protracted hypoglycemia was observed in guinea pigs after subcutaneous administration of this zinc-free preparation.
• the resulting protracted insulin action is comparable to the hypoglycemia observed after injection of a standard prota- min insulin preparation "Insulatard" • —' .
• a sterile solution of 3 ml of 13.5 mM phosphoric acid in admixture with 21 mg of sodium chloride and 9 ⁇ lit- res of m-cresol was prepared, and the pH value was ad ⁇ justed to 7.3 with a sterile aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide. The two solutions were combined.
• Such a solution induces strongly protracted hypoglycemia in guinea pigs at a dosage of 18 ⁇ g/kg.
• the protracted insulin action obtained is longer than the protracted ac ⁇ tion of the known injection preparation "Insulatard" -**" .
• the area below the blood glucose curve indicates that the insulin derivative exhibits nearly the same biological ac ⁇ tivity as human insulin.
• the pro ⁇ tein powder was dissolved in a mixture containing 200 mg of threonine methyl ester, 1000 ⁇ litres of ethanol and 400 ulitres of distilled water.
• the pH value was adjusted to 6.3 with acetic acid, and 1 mg of matrix-bound trypsin was mixed in.
• the protein was precipitated after filtration by adding 10 volumes of 2-propanol.
• the dried precipitate was redissolved in 20 mM TRIS/hydrochlor- ide, 60 % by volume ethanol, pH value 8.25, applied to a 1.6 x 20 cm Q-Sepharose -—•'" CL-6B Fast Flow column equili- brated with the said buffer and eluted with a linear so ⁇ dium chloride gradient increasing from 0 to 0.1 M over 15 hours at a flow rate of 24 cm/h.
• the ethanol was removed in vacuo from the fraction containing A4-gln-human insulin- -B30-methyl ester, and the protein was precipitated by ad ⁇ justing the pH value to 6.8.
• the B30-methyl ester was hy- drolyzed for 10 minutes in cold 0.1 M sodium hydroxide at a protein concentration of 10 mg/ml followed by adjustment of the pH value to 8.25.
• the rotein solution was applied to a 1.6 x 20 cm Q-Sepharose CL-6B Fast Flow column after dilution with 2 volumes of 20 mM TRIS/hydrochloride, pH value 8,25, and eluted as described above.
• the protein was precipitated at a pH value of 6.3 after removal of the eth ⁇ anol. 30 mg of human insulin-A4-gln was obtained after freeze-drying.
• the purity of the product was ascertained by reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography, and the identity of the product was confirmed by amino acid analysis, multi- step Edman-degradation and plasma desorption mass spectro- etr .
• Example 6 15 mg of human insulin-A4-gln, obtained as described in
• Example 5 was dissolved in 10 ml of a solution containing 13.5 mM phosphoric acid, 0.3 % m-cresol and 1.6 % glycerol. The solution was sterilized by filtration, and the pH value was adjusted to 9,0 with a sterile aqueous solution of so- dium hydroxide. The pH value was readjusted to 8.2 with a sterile solution of hydrochloric acid, and human insulin- -A4-gln crystallized as rhombohedral crystals with gentle stirring.

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• 1985
  • 1985-03-15 DK DK119785A patent/DK119785D0/da not_active Application Discontinuation
• 1986
  • 1986-03-14 DE DE8686901827T patent/DE3687500T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
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  • 1986-03-14 WO PCT/DK1986/000023 patent/WO1986005497A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1986-03-14 DE DE8686901826T patent/DE3673737D1/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
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  • 1986-03-14 JP JP61501709A patent/JPS62502538A/ja active Pending
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